Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. See jewelweed.
- n. See sensitive plant.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A plant of the genus Impatiens, especially I. Nolitangere, so called because the ripe seed-vessel explodes at the touch.
- n. In medicine, a tubercular affection, occurring especially about the face; noli-me-tangere; lupus.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of several unrelated plants which react when touched.
GNU Webster's 1913
WordNet 3.0
- n. prostrate or semi-erect subshrub of tropical America, and Australia; heavily armed with recurved thorns and having sensitive soft grey-green leaflets that fold and droop at night or when touched or cooled
- n. North American annual plant with usually yellow or orange flowers; grows chiefly on wet rather acid soil
- n. Mediterranean vine having oblong fruit that when ripe expels its seeds and juice violently when touched
Etymologies
- From the bursting of the ripe seedpods when touched. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“There were lots of different species, as I recall, pretty typical of seepage swamp: black ash and cottonwood, buckthorn, marsh marigold, Virginia creeper, touch-me-not, wood nettle.”
“And all that juicy red lip gloss our boy was laying on your touch-me-not zones.”
“She plucked a wildflower, a touch-me-not, and dropped it in a basket woven of reeds.”
“He smells every starling and chipmunk and fox, every lichen and fern and touch-me-not bursting up through dead leaves on his trail.”
“And I was, all stiff and touch-me-not and very pointedly avoiding the question of whether she was going to hitch a ride from me and Dodie in our little Eclipse.”
“So thick are the palisades of thorny mimosa -- an aggressive weed akin to the touch-me-not -- that India's endangered one-horned rhino can no longer move about freely in Kaziranga National Park.”
“But, above all, they had the modesty of pride, a chaste reserve, a/touch-me-not/which at a maturer age might have seemed intentional coyness, so much did their demeanor inspire a wish to know them.”
“Mark Normanby was Angela's brother-in-law, married to her sister Daphne, so I suppose she thought she needn't take any notice of him, though he's something frightfully high up in the government, and incredibly clever, and incidentally terribly gorgeous, in a touch-me-not way.”
“When he finally did, when he folded his arms into a touch-me-not kind of defensiveness, she settled back in the opposite comfy corner and watched scenery flash by in silence.”
“And yet for all his oddity wearing an air ... an air of hauteur, of touch-me-not aloofness ... which set him still further apart.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘touch-me-not’.
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Ponderable Plant Names
List of plant names (common or scientific) that go trippingly off the tongue, are fun to contemplate, expose the wit of the namer, or just plain befuddle.
tongueshape mudmi..., glandular maiden ..., jeweled maiden fern, stately maiden fern, hairy maiden fern, downy maiden fern, widespread maiden..., turkey tangle fog..., yankeeweed, clitoria fragrans, clitoria mariana, tall tumblemustard and 261 more...
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Flora
Flowers and plants have some of the most beautiful names.
These are often the common names, as opposed to the scientific or botanical names.daffodil, gardenia, tulip, snapdragon, violet, orchid, bleeding heart, daisy, lily, lilac, narcissus, rose and 278 more...
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vegetation
triffid, Venus flytrap, saprophyte, rhizome, thallus, knockout moss, carnivorous syndrome, protocarnivorous, paracarnivorous, subcarnivorous, borderline carnivore, touch-me-not and 70 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for touch-me-not.
PrincessStar common name of the plant Mimosa pudica. Jun 28, 2010
bilby An earlier stage in the courtship of Miss Forget-Me-Not. Jul 18, 2008